Finding toys for Jovie is tough. Really tough. If you look in our toy box(es), 85% of the toys are Jasper’s and the rest are toy’s we’ve bought for Jovie that she never touches. It’s part of our experience with Autism and a developmental delay – she just doesn’t know how to play with toys.
Even before the Autism diagnosis, we slowly learnt what toys suited Jovie and what weren’t. When Nuffnang tweeted a shoutout for people to review the Fisher-Price 1-2-3 Crawl-Along Snail, at first I ignored it – it would be another one of those toys that Jovie would ignore and would sit in the toy box. But after reading more about it, I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to engage Jovie and encourage her to play. We never give up on Jovie, so anything we can do, we do.
I made a little video to show you our first ‘session’ with the 1-2-3 Crawl Along Snail (I’m developing quite an iPhone/iMovie making addiction here, lol).
As a toy for a neurotypical baby or child, I think it’s such a cute product that would make any child smile. For babies, the belly mirror would be perfect for tummy time, and the bright flashing lights and music (love that classic Fisher-Price music!) add to the charm of the Snail.
For kids with Autism or a learning disability like Jovie, I think it would be welcomed addition to the treasure trove of aides you’ll eventually gather. My favourite part of the Crawl Along Snail, is that it moves, makes sounds and flashes lights once you start interacting with it. Jovie only needed to bat at it, or kick it with her feet for it to light up – and it got her attention! It’s such a simple idea, but for Jovie it’s just right.
We’ll need more time with it, but it’s already been a hit in our home that I’m so glad that I got to review it 🙂
The Fisher-Price 1-2-3 Crawl-Along Snail is suited for babies 3 months and over, but absolutely look for it if you have a child with a learning disability too.
p.s. I also wanted to note that the 1-2-3 Crawl-Along Snail came with batteries AND the packaging has improved in the last year or so i think? There’s no complicated forest of wires holding the Snail into the box, just a couple of simple plastic ‘bolts’ you turn and voila, toy time! Thank you Fisher Price!
Product Talk by Nuffnang
Apologies for the lack of blog posts, I won’t bore you with the details but let’s just say our colds got alot worse before they got better! I missed out on a couple of great events I was invited/booked in for this past week, and I’ve made it a point to not let that happened again. Stay healthy, stay positive.
Today was Jovie’s first occupational therapy assessment 🙂 To say I’m excited to get started is an understatement, but I’m also anxious about what the OT will report back to us. It’s no surprise to me what Jovie can and can’t do, but hearing it from a professional in professional/medical terms is tough.
I find it hard to place expectations on Jovie but I think over time that will make me lazy, if that makes sense? It’s like saying ‘I’ll never be successful at playing tennis’, you’ll never be successful if you don’t believe it at some point.
This first assessment today went as expected – Jovie didn’t really show any interested in toys, bubbles or whistles. The hammock was too much for her (maybe too enclosed?) but she did love the big tire swing alot. Not at first, but the OT and I kept at it and she ended up being there for a while. She introduced ‘stop’ and ‘more’ flash cards that Jovie did seem to look at which was awesome. Her eye contact has been improving lately 🙂 The OT did try the brush techique and joint compression which was interesting…
I made a little video with some of the clips I took quickly here and there – I definately want to make more videos as we go along
Our last assessment is next week (hopefully the speech therapist will be there too) and then there’s a wait (of course) and then a meeting about what they recommend for Jovie.
I’m really glad to be moving forward, finally.
life is never easy, you have to earn your stripes.
yesterday in the mail, came a suspciously thin letter for me from Centrelink. it was a 1 page rejection letter to notify me that i don’t qualify to be Jovie’s carer. that i don’t provide the level of care required for the title.
it’s not the money that i’m only worried about, of course it would help out so much while i’m not working (and not being paid), but the slap in the face is that someone in an office somewhere judges whether you care for your Autistic child enough or not, and they have decided that i don’t do enough.
there are a few ways i can react to this – oh, there’s definate anger and confusion (the first rejection was because i work more than 25 hours a week but I don’t right now, and i corrected them but then they still reject the application? what. ). but i’m working on living a positive life and moving forward. i can’t be controlled by disagreements. i won’t be controlled by anger.
i will most probably ask them to review the application, again, but not after we start therapy (in less than 2 week now! yay!) and get a schedule going again.
but in the meantime, i still have dreams and passions that i want to pursue. i’m looking at changing careers and developing other side projects that i’ve had in my heart for a while. anything that keeps me in Jovie’s loop will do.
around the time of Jovie’s autism diagnosis in September, i read somewhere that now you have to be ready to fight for your child. i didn’t really know what that meant, but i’m slowly understanding. there’s going to be more rejections in the future, we will run out of funding and we might never take that family trip back to the States that we want to do in the next 2 years – but my goodness, i’ll fight it out for my children. whatever it takes to move our lives forward & upward.
